Past Events: Penn State Energy and Environment Calendar Archive

Materials characterization is often performed under standard laboratory conditions.  However, this can lead to an incomplete view of the structure, chemistry, and overall properties of a material system under their eventual “real-world operating conditions”.  To address this gap researchers may employ strategies to collect their data under “in situ” conditions where temperature, pressure, and chemical composition of atmosphere are controlled. The insight gained via “in situ” characterization are critical to developing further understanding for advanced materials, catalysts, polymers, etc.

Throughout October one of the two talks at the Millennium Café each week will provide a unique perspective on atmospheric particulates. 

Virtual/augmented reality (VR/AR) influences the way people interact, communicate, and collaborate, and holds great potential to enhance learning and training, strengthen social connections, and improve our health. A critical step is to establish an immersive networking and computing platform that delivers unparalleled user experiences. In this presentation, I will introduce basic VR/AR concepts and various collaborative VR/AR applications. Moreover, I will discuss the main technical challenges that need to be addressed in collaborative VR/AR.

Most media coverage of climate breakdown focuses on humans. Very little attention is paid to its effects on the millions of wild species that share the planet with us, even though most of them are far more vulnerable than us. Welz will talk about why he wrote his new book, The End of Eden, and engage in robust discussion with the audience about the book’s vital subject. First 10 attendees will receive a free autographed copy!

A growing body of evidence shows that women’s leadership, across sectors, results in more favorable environmental decisions and outcomes. GCSE is launching the Network for Women-Inspired Leadership, a group of people from member institutions who will think together about the qualities of environmental decision-making by women that lead to more favorable results, and the paradigm changes needed to have the world benefit from women’s environmental leadership in higher education, public governance, business, and civil society.   

Block off October 26-27 on your calendar for the 2023 Materials Day, Penn State’s marquee event for the materials research community. This year’s theme is “Materials. Research. Workforce. Innovations for Future Manufacturing.” With this theme in mind, the event will feature keynote speakers, breakout sessions, graduate student poster sessions, industry-sponsored tabletops, lunch and several networking opportunities.

For 40 years, photographer James Balog (“BAY-log”) has broken new conceptual and artistic ground on one of the most important issues of our era: human modification of nature. An avid mountaineer with a graduate degree in geography and geomorphology, James is equally at home on a Himalayan peak or a whitewater river, the African savannah, or polar icecaps. His film, The Human Element, is an innovative and visually stunning look at how humanity interacts with earth, air, fire, and water. Its world premiere was at the San Francisco Film Festival in April 2018.

Adam Welz is a South African writer, nature conservation consultant, photographer and filmmaker. He's the author of The End of Eden: Wild Nature in the Age of Climate Breakdown (Bloomsbury 2023), a groundbreaking book that explores the impacts of climate change on wild species and natural ecosystems. Welz was born and raised in Pretoria, South Africa, and has lived, worked and travelled on six continents, including extended periods in the United States. He consults on conservation projects and is an experienced birder and keen all-round naturalist.

Learn how to identify common strategies for energy efficiency upgrades to a home or business during this virtual workshop. Participants of Renewable Energy Academy: Applied Energy Efficiency for Homes and Businesses will be able to identify common strategies for energy efficiency upgrades to a home or business, understand how to interpret the results of an energy audit report, and outline the next steps for implementing energy efficiency measures.

Block off October 26-27 on your calendar for the 2023 Materials Day, Penn State’s marquee event for the materials research community. This year’s theme is “Materials. Research. Workforce. Innovations for Future Manufacturing.” With this theme in mind, the event will feature keynote speakers, breakout sessions, graduate student poster sessions, industry-sponsored tabletops, lunch and several networking opportunities.

Concentrated flow paths, CFPs, are high convenances of surface runoff that negatively impact soil and water quality. Best Management Practices (BMPs) typically mitigate or successfully manage surface runoff in traditional agronomic landscapes. When impacted by CFPs, BMPs like riparian forest buffers see decreased effectiveness in management of runoff. Biochar, a black carbon source, may have the potential to help mitigate the CFPs through its impact on soil physical and chemical properties.

This is the session is part of the lecture series "Advances in Water Management and Climate Adaptation" organized by the Smart Water Networks department of TU Berlin. This week, Antonia Hadjimichael from the Pennsylvania State University will present her research on "Multisector dynamics: Advancing the science of complex adaptive human‐Earth systems". Please check the full program of the lecture series.

Department of Geosciences Colloquium Series Fall 2023 Lucas Zoet University of Wisconsin - Madison ​Host: Tushar Mittal Experimental insights into how glaciers shape their beds

A multimodal/multiscale approach to the characterization of materials or devices can provide important information about defects, structure, or morphology at length scales down to the atomic level within the larger macroscopic framework of the system. In addition, 3D visualization provides the key third dimension to 2D projection images that are produced by most standard imaging techniques. Visualizing samples in three dimensions can be done nondestructively by imaging at many tilt angles using MicroCT or though similar tomography methods in a transmission electron microscope.

Throughout October one of the two talks at the Millennium Café each week will provide a unique perspective on atmospheric particulates. 

Funding agencies are placing greater emphasis on the application of basic science to create impact, resulting in moving innovations to commercialization and/or to benefit society.

Adam Welz is a South African writer, nature conservation consultant, photographer and filmmaker. He's the author of The End of Eden: Wild Nature in the Age of Climate Breakdown (Bloomsbury 2023), a groundbreaking book that explores the impacts of climate change on wild species and natural ecosystems. Welz was born and raised in Pretoria, South Africa, and has lived, worked and travelled on six continents, including extended periods in the United States. He consults on conservation projects and is an experienced birder and keen all-round naturalist.

Come join Penn State’s own wind energy club for a fun-filled sustainability day. This student-organized event is for all ages to come to enjoy activities, learning, and even ice cream. The event will take place in the Kunkle Lounge on October 21 from 11 am-2 pm.

The MRSEC has a Partnership for Research and Education in Materials with North Carolina Central University that aims to build institutional capacity and boost academic success of underrepresented minority students in materials research.

This introductory session will provide participants with an overview of ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS StoryMaps. Users authenticate to the Penn State ArcGIS Online account with their Penn State credentials. Examples will be provided related to searching for geospatial data, creation of web maps, use of media, and incorporation of narrative into ArcGIS StoryMaps. An optional tour of the Donald W. Hamer Center for Maps and Geospatial Information (1 Pattee Library) is available for those attending in-person.